Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. – Mathew Price tied a career high with 10 strikeouts to lead the 16th-ranked Virginia Tech baseball team to a 7-0 shutout of Savannah State in non-conference action at English Field on Sunday.
The win improved the Hokies to 34-15 on the season, which ties for most wins in a season since Tech went 42-17 in the 1999 campaign. It was the seventh shutout tossed by the Hokie pitching staff this year, which ties for the most in one season since Tech threw a school-record eight shutouts in 1978. Tech has now thrown shutouts in back-to-back games on three occasions this season. The loss dropped Savannah State’s record to 24-23.
Price won his third consecutive start to lift his record to 7-3, allowing just four hits in his seven innings on the mound. He walked one batter and hit two. After lefty reliever Sean McDermott retired two of the three batters he faced in the eighth inning, closer Ben Rowen came on to record the Hokies’ final four outs, picking up his fifth save.
Savannah State starting pitcher Mark Sherrod (4-3) took the loss despite throwing seven effectively wild innings. Though he walked 10 batters and threw three wild pitches, he gave up just four runs (three earned) on five hits.
The Hokies drew a season-high 12 walks in the game, while collecting seven hits. Leading the way was third baseman Ronnie Shaban, who had two of each to go with three RBIs. He was the only batter for either team to record more than one hit.
Tech left fielder Buddy Sosnoskie opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a solo home run to left-center field, his eighth round-tripper of the season.
Shortstop Brent Zimmerman scored on wild pitch by Sherrod in the second inning to give the Hokies a 2-0 lead. Zimmerman had walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a fly ball to right by center fielder Sean Ryan.
The Hokies finally broke the game open in the bottom of the eighth, scoring five runs to set the final score at 7-0. Second baseman Michael Seaborn led off with a double and eventually scored on an error. Pinch hitter Chris Kay, who reached on that error, later came around to score on an RBI single by Zimmerman. Shaban capped things off with a three-run double to lift his team-leading RBI total 51.
The Hokies will return to action on Friday when they welcome the Duke Blue Devils to English Field for a three-game ACC series. First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m.